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Generator and Check Matrices

A linear code C can be represented as the span of a minimal set of basis codewords known as a generating matrix G. G in standard form has the block matrix form where I is the identity matrix and A is some matrix. A check matrix H represents a linear function whose kernel is the code C. If G is in standard form, then H can be constructed as (-A^T | I - k) where k is the size of I. The code generated by H is the dual code of C. The minimum distance d between any two codewords is independent of the codewords and is determined by the weight of the non-zero codeword with the smallest weight. The distance d of a linear

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Generator and Check Matrices

A linear code C can be represented as the span of a minimal set of basis codewords known as a generating matrix G. G in standard form has the block matrix form where I is the identity matrix and A is some matrix. A check matrix H represents a linear function whose kernel is the code C. If G is in standard form, then H can be constructed as (-A^T | I - k) where k is the size of I. The code generated by H is the dual code of C. The minimum distance d between any two codewords is independent of the codewords and is determined by the weight of the non-zero codeword with the smallest weight. The distance d of a linear

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Anonymous 0L2mVaI
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Generator and check matrices

As a linear subspace of

, the entire code C (which may be very large) may be represented as

the span of a minimal set of codewords (known as a basis in linear algebra). These basis
codewords are often collated in the rows of a matrix G known as a generating matrix for the
code C. When G has the block matrix form
matrix and A is some

, where

denotes the

identity

matrix, then we say G is in standard form.

A matrix H representing a linear function

whose kernel is C is called a check

matrix of C (or sometimes a parity check matrix). Equivalently, H is a matrix whose null
space is C. If C is a code with a generating matrix G in standard form, G = (Ik | A), then H =
(At | In k) is a check matrix for C. The code generated by H is called thedual code of C.
Linearity guarantees that the minimum Hamming distance d between a codeword c0 and any of
the other codewords c c0 is independent of c0. This follows from the property that the
difference c c0 of two codewords in C is also a codeword (i.e., an element of the subspace C),
and the property that d(c, c0) = d(c c0, 0). These properties imply that

In other words, in order to find out the minimum distance between the codewords of a linear
code, one would only need to look at the non-zero codewords. The non-zero codeword with
the smallest weight has then the minimum distance to the zero codeword, and hence
determines the minimum distance of the code.
The distance d of a linear code C also equals the minimum number of linearly dependent
columns of the check matrix H.

Proof: Because
the

column of

, which is equivalent to
. Remove those items with

dependent. Therefore

, where
, those

with

is

are linearly

is at least the minimum number of linearly dependent columns. On

another hand, consider the minimum set of linearly dependent columns


where

is the column index

set.
vector
we have

. Now consider the


such that

if

. Note

because

. Therefore

, which is the minimum number of linearly dependent columns in

The claimed property is therefore proved.

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